Obama needs a change in perspective. What if he were living in Beersheba? How would he like to see his sweet little girls wet the bed?

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Sir, – We assume that American journalist and blogger Jeffrey Goldberg is
speaking in President Barack Obama’s name (“Likud officials accuse ‘vengeful’
Obama of ‘grossly interfering’ in Israel’s election,” January 16). Who is
surprised? Obama, who has been hostile to us from the time he took office, is
now about to begin his second term – by bullying the State of Israel.

I
disagree with every point. But let’s hit just two of them.

Goldberg said
that, according to Obama, Israel’s settlement policies were foreclosing a
two-state solution. Wrong. The UN General Assembly and the Europeans were
supposed to be guarantors of the Oslo agreements.

Nothing was to be done
without the agreement of both parties.

The Europeans decided not to stand
by their commitments and gave the Palestinians what they wanted for free, thus
closing that door with a big bang. This behavior, incidentally, shows us what a
signed international agreement is worth.

But worse was the quote Goldberg
attributed to Obama, that Israel “doesn’t know what its own best interests are.”
The implication is that we are a bunch of naughty children who need an adult to
discipline us.

What insulting nonsense. Anyone who was here just a few
weeks ago was made to notice yet again that as soon as we give territory to our
enemy we get missiles on our heads.

Obama needs a change in
perspective.

What if he were living in Beersheba? How would he like to
see his sweet little girls wet the bed? Israel knows very well what its best
interests are. They don’t include signing worthless agreements in exchange for
precious land.

We will be isolated? We have always been isolated. Now it
is just more obvious.

THELMA JACOBSON Petah Tikva

Sir, – The logic is
very simple.

President Obama prefers the Palestinian position to that of
Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Obama wants Israel to make more unilateral
concessions. He doesn’t want a right-winger elected in Israel.

So the
choice for Israeli voters is easy. If they want a prime minister who will listen
to Obama, vote for someone else. If they want a prime minister who wants peace
but not appeasement, who will negotiate but not give anything away until there
is real peace, vote for Netanyahu.

DAVID ROTENBERG Jerusalem

Sir, – Your
bias is showing. You have given your readers a third-hand report on an opinion
that the US president might have expressed to a journalist who reported it in
another publication, not yours.

The president needs to choose a columnist
to get his message across, and the journalist in question doesn’t even confirm
it? Couldn’t you get a first-hand opinion from the president himself? Is there
anything else you can drag up from second- or third-hand reports to bad-mouth our
prime minister?

ROSALIE BROSILOW Rehovot

Sir, – In reading the quotes taken from
Jeffrey Goldberg’s rather scurrilous column, I was struck by the thought as to
why I should even believe him. Does he have documented evidence, two unbiased
reliable sources, and any of the other basic requirements for proper reporting?
And what kind of objective (and ethical) reporting is a statement that “the
president seems to view the prime minister as a political coward...?” That
appears to be the lowest kind of hatchet job by a columnist, one who can be
generously described only as a ferocious non-admirer of our prime
minister.

All I can say is, “Move over, Tom Friedman, Jeffrey Goldberg is
coming up on you fast.”

MARCHAL KAPLAN Jerusalem

Sir, – Senior Likud
officials accuse President Obama of attempting to influence Israeli voters in
next week’s election. Actually, the shoes are on their feet.

After the
vote at the UN, the government needed only to withhold money transfers and
gently suggest that those who voted for a Palestinian state pay its bills.
Instead, by rushing to approve new Israeli towns and cities across the Green
Line, all attention was focused on us.

Basically, our government turned a
potential border dispute into a dispute over Israeli building, without making
those who voted for a Palestinian state responsible for its potential success
within any borders.

Wisdom is knowing how to make the right decision in
its right time. This leaves me – normally a Likud voter – wondering whom to vote
for.

BARRY LYNN Efrat

Sir, – Rise up, Israeli voters! Show the
interfering occupant of the White House that we have full confidence in Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. How wonderful if he were to be overwhelmingly
elected to office again to show how much we appreciate him and care about the
dangers of Iran and ceding land for more terrorist strongholds.

He has also done a good job preserving our security and has
served our country with distinction for decades.

Let’s show Obama. Let’s
vote Netanyahu.

BARBARA OBERMAN Herzliya Pituah

Sir, – While I have been
ambivalent about my vote in next week’s elections, I credit Barack Obama for
solidifying my decision to vote for Binyamin Netanyahu. If Obama says Israel
doesn’t know what is in its own best interests, then of course I have to believe
that Bibi is onto something pretty important and effective.

Obama has
managed to create a bizarro world of foreign policy prescience. Simply stated,
whatever he says, the opposite is likely to be true.

Thanks, Mr.
President, for helping me see what’s in my own best interest.

DOUGLAS
ALTABEF Rosh Pina

Sir, – As usual, the Israel-“State of Palestine” peace process
or lack thereof is prominent in the media. The consensus of foreign (and many
Israeli) commentators seems to be that Israel is not doing enough to make peace
happen.

For the sake of argument, let us imagine that, out of the blue
and without preconditions, the Palestinians tire of calling for our destruction.
They just want some peace and quiet and to be able to get on with their
lives.

Not only do they sue for peace, they volunteer to live according
to Israel’s most expansive wish list: Jerusalem undivided, no right of return, a
permanent Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley, Israeli annexation of Area C
and maybe a bit more, no land swaps, no physical link between Gaza and the West
Bank, and the demilitarization of Palestine in perpetuity, with Israel having
absolute sovereignty over the skies, the Mediterranean coast and Gaza’s border
with Egypt.

Plus, the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state
and the historical homeland of the Jewish people. In addition, in a gesture of
towering good faith, they propose the signing of an official “End of Conflict”
document before the General Assembly of the United Nations. And wow, Hamas is
party to the agreement! Would there be peace? Of course not. The Arab states
could not allow it because it would be good for the Jews (no matter that it’s
good for the Palestinians).

And then there is the not-so- small matter of
Islamic theology that claims title to all land that was ever under Muslim
sovereignty.

I wish that people who blame Israel for our lack of peace
could understand our local reality.

GERRY MANDELL Omer

Sir, – The
American president has now taken on the philosophy of the generations of white
men who oppressed his own people: imperialistic colonialism, condescension,
paternalism and racism.

Mazel Tov!

YISRAEL GUTTMAN Jerusalem

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